One Summer: America, 1927

Bryson notes that Lindbergh “faced more dangers flying around America than he ever had on his flight to Paris” (310). Massive crowds would flood the tarmac while his landed plane was still in motion, sometimes leading to accidents. The mania for aviation continued, and a “Dole Pacific Race” followed the conquered Orteig Prize. The Dole Pacific Race was a real-time race between pilots across the Pacific from Oakland, California, to Oahu, Hawaii. It was a disaster. Three hopefuls crashed and died while preparing. Two planes eventually made it to Oahu, but two more were never seen again. Other disappearances over different courses followed. Simultaneously, a few successful record-breaking flights took place elsewhere. For example, two men flew almost 13,000 miles in 19 days.

Bryson then discusses Hollywood and the film industry. He says that “the golden age of the picture palace was the 1920s” (320), when people would attend screenings in elaborate, opulent auditoriums. There, they saw not just movies, but “musical performances, newsreels, serials, a comic turn, perhaps a magician or other novelty act, dance demonstrations, a round or two of a popular game called Screeno” (320). It was also a period of flux for the movie industry. Technology finally advanced enough to move beyond silent films and incorporate sound. These new “talkies” changed the job of actors, and some previously famous actors in silent films could not adapt. In other cases, stage actors moved into Hollywood because they were used to utilizing their voices. The major change this new era of film wrought was the worldwide dissemination of “American speech […] thoughts […] attitudes […] humor and sensibilities” (334). This influence would never be undone.

These chapters return to the anarchists. First, Bryson discusses execution in general. The state carried out executions with electrocution, but it was a delicate process that often went wrong, subjecting victims to prolonged deaths defined by torture instead of the intended swiftness. One man named Robert Elliott more or less fixed the process and “became America’s top executioner” by using his own products and working for hire (335), developing what was essentially a one-man electrocution industry. Charlestown State Prison hired Elliott to execute Sacco and Vanzetti on the night of August 10. A last-minute intervention from the Massachusetts governor delayed the execution and gave the lawyer who represented the two convicted men 12 more days “to find a court prepared to grant a retrial or hear new evidence” (340). The governor was one of many who sympathized with Sacco and Vanzetti, the latter of whom he had grown fond. No court, however, would oblige. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 22.

Sacco’s last words were farewells to his family and, in Italian, “Long live anarchy!” (341). Vanzetti proclaimed innocence and thanked everyone present for their services. Americans had what Bryson calls a “muted” reaction (341), but other parts of the world erupted into violent protest and vehement anti-American demonstrations.

Bryson takes up the question of the innocence or guilt of Sacco and Vanzetti, a subject that received much attention from authors in the century following their executions. He concludes that they were likely “not perhaps as innocent as they made themselves out” (343), though he does not confirm that they committed the murders for which they were prosecuted.

Bryson then returns to Babe Ruth, who was, in 1927, living in an enormous suite in the Ansonia Hotel. He was the highest paid ball player, still loved to party, and had a tangled web of personal drama he liked to escape from on road trips with the team. These road trips could be quite busy and involve all different sorts of transportation, though Bryson talks the most about special train cars for the players and team staff. The team attracted thousands of fans on the road because of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig’s home run race. Bryson explains, “There really had never been anything like it […] By now people were practically having heart attacks” from excitement (353). People also remained excited over Lindbergh, who continued his tour and recorded impressive and captivating regular flying times in an era of slow ground transportation.